I don't get why people can go into the site forum and bitch and moan about bannings and modding. So you got banned, get over it, come back when the ban has expired and don't post like an idiot in the future. I got banned for spam a couple of months ago, but believe it or not: I did not bitch in the site forum for six months, I did not spam the Pit, I did not try to hack the site and I did not throw eggs on Jeremy's house this past Friday night. Since when is questioning authority on the Internet cool? And why didn't anyone inform me about this so that I could have been cool too?

unless it's cold and you wan't the floor to be warm. we don't all live in the desert. where you temps you complain are cold are max it gets here .
srs you were complaining about something like 20c when thats what we can hope for in summer and cold here really means -8c.

So I've reached a point to where I am pretty much fed up with the forums. There's some good things that go on here, sure, but ultimately it's a hassle and no fun to run at all. Our community is generally sarcastic, rude, disrespectful, and immature. Not the kind of site I'm proud to be running.

Welcome to the real world. Most people don't get along in large enough groups and we have over 100,000 members. I suggested before that you implement some sort of screening at registration, which was recognized by a few moderators as a good idea, but ultimately fell on deaf ears. If you don't come around and pay attention to suggestions for improvement, how do you expect this place to improve?

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Everybody knows about the hackings and the spammers. Also those who feel like they are above all the rules and the site is their personal playground. There is a site, nicely hosted by Klown, that is filled with personal attacks on the moderators and on me personally. Petty if you ask me. Do you guys have anything else to do with your time? Seriously, find a girlfriend, play sports, do something useful. Apparently, it's more fun to be dicks on the internet.

Your website is represented by a medley of personalities, that seem to be running free of any central control at all. That's why you have so many people trying to harm this place. You show up to work with the forums rather than Sputnik about once in a blue moon. The rest of the time we're stuck dealing with a staff that acts more secretive than the KGB (yeah yeah yeah dramatic comparison). Maybe if there were some form of central leadership on these boards, you'd get better attitudes in return.

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So what I'd like to ask is.. why? Did we moderators screw up by not having enough oversight to begin with? Is there just an influx of members who are too young? Is there a bad culture on the boards? Are there too few rules, too many?

A little bit of the highlighted, and far too many rules. There's an idea here that more rules are an adequate substitute for central leadership. "We'll just make a fucking essay length post full of rules and throw some moderators in there and see what happens." Well, you've seen what happened. The thing is though, you can't take away rules unless your staff is going to do a better of communicating with the community and doing their jobs in a fair and respectful manner. As it is right now, your moderators pretty much approach every situation (and I'm going to emphasize on TBF with this one) with an, "I'm a mod, you're not, stfu and don't question my judgement", attitude. That is not going to counter-act the negativity on here. All it's doing is perpetuating the cycle. And if mods like that don't want to change their style, then for heaven's sake, get rid of them. Demote them to regular users again because they're not representing you and these boards the way they should be.

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In short, what's it going to take for you guys to shape up? We need to have a board where people can have fun, but that also has rules and where moderators and members are respected. There are plenty of examples of successful boards across the internet where this is the case... I honestly spend my time at these boards instead of at my own when I seek conversation. This shouldn't be the case.

I've said all I can.

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So I guess we have two options:

1) Moderators and me can become draconian and enforce our authority (which does exist, and has to exist to keep the site running). We can go on banning sprees, delete posts entirely, and clean up spam by deleting anything remotely close to it.

2) You guys can stop acting like jerks to the moderators and members at the site, and create a peer-supported culture that discourages trolls, hackers, and flamers. This means that instead of laughing or posting spam posts in spam threads, you tell people to stop. Pretty simple. It's perfectly possible to have fun without being idiots.

Right now #1 is probably going to happen very soon if things don't shape up. We've lost the impetus to explain our actions to the community, hence the removal of the site forum. We're close to the end of the line.

Another tip; stop offering ultimatums. Get down in the shit, interact with the users that you need to interact with and solve problems. Stop saying, "It's my way or the highway." We get that you own these boards, but turning totalitarian due to the actions of four or five users that keep giving you a headache is ridiculous. I can't tell you not to shut down the boards and, honestly, I wouldn't care if you did. But doing it just because you think it's not worth the effort to make some real changes around here is bogus. There are over 100,000 people that come here for advice on everything from music and their instrument to love and relationships. If you really want to improve this place, then do it and stop taking away parts of this community because you think it's easier than making effective changes.

I hope I didn't come off wrong with this post. I'm not trying to stir the pot, just speaking my mind.

Welcome to the real world. Most people don't get along in large enough groups and we have over 100,000 members. I suggested before that you implement some sort of screening at registration, which was recognized by a few moderators as a good idea, but ultimately fell on deaf ears. If you don't come around and pay attention to suggestions for improvement, how do you expect this place to improve?

Obviously if he doesn't agree with your suggestion he mustn't have listened to it.